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In the Asia Cup 2023, India will face Sri Lanka in the final. In the Super Four round, Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by two wickets in their final match and secured a place in the final with four points. Sri Lanka's team has reached the final of the Asia Cup for the 12th time, while India, which has reached the final for the 10th time, is in second place in this list. In terms of winning the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka is second only to India. India has won the Asia Cup seven times, while Sri Lanka has won it six times.
In this rain-affected match, Pakistan batted first and scored 252 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 42 overs. Sri Lanka's target, according to the Duckworth-Lewis method, was 252 runs as well. In response, the Sri Lankan team lost eight wickets but managed to achieve the target on the last ball of the innings.
For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan was the top scorer with 86 runs, while Iftikhar Ahmed contributed 47 runs and had a century partnership with Rizwan, taking their team to a competitive total. Abdullah Shafique also contributed with 52 runs. Mathisha Pathirana took three wickets for Sri Lanka, while Pramod Madushan took two. Tiksana and Velalage took one wicket each.
For Sri Lanka, Kusal Mendis was the highest scorer with 91 runs, and Asalanka scored an unbeaten 49 runs to lead the team to victory. Samara Vikrama also contributed with 48 runs. For Pakistan, Iftikhar Ahmed took three wickets, and Shaheen Afridi took two wickets. Shadab Khan claimed one wicket.
The Asia Cup final between India and Sri Lanka will be played on September 17 at the same venue. Prior to that, Team India will play against Bangladesh on September 15. However, the outcome of this match will not affect the tournament, as Bangladesh's team has already been eliminated from the final race after losing their first two matches in the Super Four, while the Indian team has secured a place in the final by winning their first two matches.
What happened in Pakistan's innings?
Due to rain, the match started quite late, with the number of overs reduced from 50 to 45. Pakistan's captain Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first. Several changes were made to the Pakistan team due to injuries to several players. Pakistan's innings didn't start well as Fakhar Zaman was dismissed after scoring just four runs. After that, Abdullah Shafique and Babar steadied the innings, but Babar also got out after scoring 29 runs. At this point, the team's score was 73 runs. Shafique also fell after scoring an important half-century, and Mohammad Harris was out for a low score. Nawaz could only score 12 runs.
After losing five wickets for 130 runs, Pakistan was in trouble. However, Mohammad Rizwan partnered with Iftikhar Ahmed to bring Pakistan back into the game with a century partnership. During this period, the match was interrupted due to rain, and the number of overs was reduced to 42, but these two kept going. Iftikhar scored 47 runs before getting out. Meanwhile, Rizwan scored an unbeaten 86 runs, taking Pakistan's score to 252/7 in 42 overs.
What happened in Sri Lanka's innings?
Under the Duckworth-Lewis method, Sri Lanka's target was also 252 runs. Kusal Perera and Nissanka started aggressively, but Perera was out for 17 runs after facing eight balls. Shadab Khan's accurate throw sent him back to the pavilion. Mendis and Nissanka then formed a half-century partnership to advance Sri Lanka's innings, but Nissanka was dismissed after scoring 29 runs. After that, Sadira Samarawickrama and Mendis had a century partnership, and Sri Lanka looked set for victory. However, Samarawickrama was dismissed for 48 runs when the score was over 200 runs.
Iftikhar Ahmed made a crucial breakthrough by dismissing Mendis for 91 runs. After that, he also got Shanaka out, putting Sri Lanka under pressure. Shaheen Afridi took the wickets of Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage in his last over, making the match thrilling. Sri Lanka needed eight runs on the last ball for victory. Zaman Khan, playing his first ODI, gave away only two runs in the first four balls of the last over and also got Madushan out. However, in the last ball of the match, he conceded an easy two runs, giving Sri Lanka a thrilling victory and securing their spot in the record 12th Asia Cup final.
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